Chapter 188 – Killing Two Birds with One Stone

Min Do-jun inwardly smiled when he saw the appearance of the boss vampire.

‘Finally found you. Bathory.’

As expected, Bathory was inside the body of the ancient vampire.

The evidence was clear.

[Blood Witch Bathory possessing the Ancient Vampire]

Her name was clearly visible through weakness detection.

“Hohohohoho!”

The massive vampire, standing at 3 meters tall, was laughing joyfully for some reason.

Of course, it wasn’t difficult to guess why.

‘She must find it amusing. Her prey has come to her voluntarily.’

She had possessed someone with the intention of bringing humans here, but now one had come on their own—how pleased she must be.

‘But what if she knew it was me?’

Would she still be laughing like that?

After all, she had just been beaten severely by him and had fled with her tail between her legs.

‘That means she’s mistaking me for Theodore.’

If she had recognized Min Do-jun, she wouldn’t have the luxury of laughing like that.

‘My plan to disguise myself as Theodore to make her lower her guard worked perfectly.’

Based on the weakness detection, Bathory was weaker than him in combat power.

Targeting this weakness, he had changed his face to look like Theodore and transformed his weapon into a hammer to make her lower her guard—and judging by her reaction, it had worked perfectly.

‘Not only deceiving people, but now I’m even deceiving monsters.’

Min Do-jun stared at Bathory, who was still laughing.

She seemed so relaxed in front of her enemy, clearly judging that she could easily defeat someone of Theodore’s caliber.

But did she know?

Min Do-jun was thinking the exact same thing.

‘I’ve confirmed that the vampire in front of me is Bathory, and now all that’s left is to kill her…’

A simple attack wouldn’t be enough.

‘I need to either kill her in one blow or as quickly as possible.’

That way, Bathory wouldn’t be able to escape by turning into a spirit form again.

‘I’ll end this quickly.’

Min Do-jun released killing intent and activated Frenzy.

[Using Frenzy.]

[Strength and Agility increase by 1.5 times.]

[Strength+2,381 Agility+3,205]

[Time remaining: 2 minutes 59 seconds]

With Frenzy, his strength exceeded 7,100 and his agility surpassed 9,600.

But Bathory, seemingly unaware of this, continued to laugh.

* * *

“Hohohohoho!”

After laughing for quite some time, Bathory looked at the human with contemptuous eyes.

‘How pathetic. Truly pathetic!’

The human before her was definitely Theodore Townsend, whom she had possessed earlier.

‘What possessed him to come here alone?’

He hadn’t come with that dangerous human but had entered the boss room all by himself.

Standing there dumbly with a hammer in hand, he looked utterly foolish.

‘He must have lost his mind after waking up. Or perhaps he took a wrong turn.’

Either way, it was good news for her.

Her prey had rolled right into her lap.

‘I was just feeling hungry, so this is perfect.’

She knew the capabilities of the body she had taken over very well.

After all, she had slaughtered humans who had accidentally entered the boss room before.

‘I’ve faced five humans simultaneously before, so I can easily kill this fool.’

Having possessed Theodore’s body, she knew well.

Even if he were to be reborn, he couldn’t defeat the ancient vampire with his power.

‘That dangerous human might be a different story.’

That human who had beaten her severely while she was possessing Theodore might be able to defeat this body.

‘Tsk, if he was going to come, he should have come with that human.’

She didn’t know what gave him the confidence to come alone, but in any case, all Bathory had to do was eat the human and fill her stomach.

‘First, if I use wide-range blood-sucking on him… Huh?’

Bathory unconsciously rubbed her eyes.

The human in front of her had suddenly disappeared.

‘What’s this? Invisibility? But there was no invisibility in his memories?’

Was it just her imagination, or did she suddenly feel a chill down her spine?

At that moment, her vision was filled with a black beam.

Zwiiiiing!

‘Da-danger…!’

Sensing danger, she instinctively turned her head, but the beam seemed to follow her face as if it were alive.

Pachichichik!

“Kyaaaaaaaaaa!”

With excruciating pain, her vision went dark.

She couldn’t see anything at all.

‘Tch!’

Min Do-jun, who had used invisibility and successfully hit Bathory’s face with Soul Explosion, wore a disappointed expression.

‘She didn’t die in one hit?’

It was a decisive blow that had consumed souls 1 through 9, but it had only managed to burn her eyes and face.

‘Tian Lisheng, Xu Zhiping, Gao Zhihong. I used all those White Snake Guild trash, and she still didn’t die in one hit.’

He had kept Lee Min-ji’s soul intact, thinking it might be useful, but had used up all the others in that attack.

‘Well, I expected this.’

In anticipation of this situation, Min Do-jun had immediately leaped toward Bathory’s head after the attack.

To deliver a follow-up strike.

‘Gust Blade.’

The strengthened wind blades tore through the air and rushed toward Bathory’s head.

Seogeogeogeogeogeogeok-!

Simultaneously, he fired Magnum Burst.

Kwakwakwakwang-!

And swung his ghost sword, enhanced with buffs, five times.

Seoguk-seoguk-seoguk-seoguk-seoguk!

He completed all of this within 3 seconds and landed on the floor.

When Min Do-jun looked up, the headless ancient vampire was turning into smoke.

[You have defeated the Ancient Vampire!]

[Experience +2,760,000] (100% contribution)

[Your level has increased!]

[S-grade magic stone obtained.]

[S-grade magic stone obtained.]

[S-grade magic stone obtained.]

[Superior Random Box obtained.]

[Skill Grade Transcendence Stone obtained.]

[Twin Blood Ring (Left Hand) obtained.]

[Twin Blood Ring (Right Hand) obtained.]

‘I’ve defeated the ancient vampire.’

But what happened to Bathory?

‘I delivered maximum damage in the shortest time possible, but could she have escaped again…?’

However, his worry proved unfounded as a message appeared.

[You have defeated Blood Witch Bathory!]

[Experience +6,480,000] (100% contribution)

[Your level has increased!]

[Your level has increased!]

[S-grade magic stone obtained.]

[S-grade magic stone obtained.]

[S-grade magic stone obtained.]

[Transcendent Random Box obtained.]

[Skill Book: Blood Song obtained.]

[Magic Core obtained.]

According to the message, he had successfully annihilated Bathory.

‘Getting rewards from both the boss and Bathory. Is this what they call killing two birds with one stone?’

With so many rewards, he wasn’t sure what to check first, but he decided to use the Skill Grade Transcendence Stone he had obtained from the vampire boss.

[Please name the skill to transcend.]

After some consideration, he decided to enhance the buff skill he used most frequently.

‘Mana Sword.’

[Mana Sword’s grade has been raised from A to S!]

[Skill name has been changed to ‘Aura Blade’.]

[Aura Blade’s damage has increased from 200% of magic power to 400%!]

[Additionally, when using Aura Blade, the blade becomes slightly longer.]

‘Aura Blade?’

He had been planning to look for the Aura Blade skill after reaching S-rank.

It was a skill used by Sim Jin-seop, who was famous as a Magic Swordsman before his regression.

‘I didn’t know Mana Sword would become Aura Blade…’

He hadn’t expected the skill to change when it reached S-grade.

‘I never played as a Magic Swordsman in my previous life, so how could I have known?’

Either way, it was an unexpected stroke of luck.

‘Let’s try it.’

Min Do-jun tested Aura Blade.

Unlike the previous blue light, the blade was now covered in a rainbow-colored light.

‘Oh, the blade really did get longer!’

Comparing it to before, it had extended by about 15cm.

Though it might seem like a small increase, even this much would be helpful in combat.

‘Any longer might have been inconvenient.’

Satisfied with the skill, Min Do-jun checked the items.

The first thing he examined was the ring obtained from the vampire boss.

[Twin Blood Ring (Left Hand)]

-Classification: Ring

-Grade: S

-Effect: Magic Power+240, Recovers health equal to 10% of magic damage

-Durability: 24,000/24,000

-Usage Restriction: Level 3,000 or higher

-Description: A ring that only works when worn on the left hand. There is an identical twin ring, and when both are worn, a set effect is activated. If actual twins each wear one, they receive not only the set effect but also a special option.

[Twin Blood Ring (Right Hand)]

-Classification: Ring

-Grade: S

-Effect: Strength+240, Recovers health equal to 10% of physical damage

-Durability: 24,000/24,000

-Usage Restriction: Level 3,000 or higher

-Description: A ring that only works when worn on the right hand. There is an identical twin ring, and when both are worn, a set effect is activated. If actual twins each wear one, they receive not only the set effect but also a special option.

He was surprised not only that two rings had dropped but also by the items themselves.

‘So the Twin Blood Rings dropped from here.’

Twin Blood Rings.

Items with opposite options that provide a set effect when worn on both hands.

‘But since there’s no profession that requires both strength and magic power, no one wears both.’

Unless you’re a Magic Swordsman like Min Do-jun, you wouldn’t need both rings.

However, for certain hunters, nothing could be better than these.

Specifically, hunters born as twins.

‘The probability of both twins becoming hunters is extremely low, but it’s not impossible.’

If such twin hunters each wore one ring, they would receive not only the set effect but also an additional option.

‘It’s almost like cheating.’

Because of this, S-rank hunters who were twins would invariably wear the Blood Rings.

‘The Choi Woo-hyun and Choi Woo-jin brothers were the same.’

Choi Woo-hyun and Choi Woo-jin were among Min Do-jun’s revenge targets.

They were also Korea’s only twin hunters.

‘So before my regression, they obtained the rings by defeating the vampire boss in Vampire’s Night. Or maybe they bought them on Hunter Market.’

In any case, an item that they desperately needed was now in Min Do-jun’s hands.

‘I might be able to lure them out with this.’

Though Min Do-jun could use them himself after reaching S-rank, his first thought was to use them for revenge.

Next, Min Do-jun examined the item obtained from Bathory.

[Transcendent Random Box]

-Classification: Consumable

-Grade: S

-Effect: Randomly obtain an S-grade item

-Usage Restriction: Level 3,000 or higher

-Description: A carefully wrapped gift box. Contains an unknown gift.

Unlike the Superior Random Box, which might yield an A-grade item, the Transcendent Random Box guaranteed an S-grade item.

In other words, it was the pinnacle of random boxes!

‘Not bad.’

Min Do-jun’s assessment was rather bland, as even S-grade items could sometimes be trash.

Next, Min Do-jun took out the skill book obtained from Bathory.

[Skill – Blood Song]

-Grade: S

-Effect: Reduces stats of enemies within a 30-meter radius by 15%

-Usage Restriction: Level 3,000 or higher

-Description: Consumes your blood to lower the stats of enemies. Blood continues to be consumed while the skill is active. Blood can be replenished through health recovery.

It was a debuff-type skill that weakened nearby enemies, which wasn’t bad.

‘No, looking at it again, it’s actually quite good.’

It reduced stats by 15% and was an area-of-effect skill.

It would be very useful in battles against multiple opponents.

‘I don’t know how much blood it consumes, but it would be good to use with blood-sucking abilities.’

Deciding to learn it after reaching S-rank, he finally checked the last item.

‘To think I’d get a Magic Core.’

The only item that could upgrade Legendary Armaments to EX-grade.

While he was at it, Min Do-jun decided to try combining it.

After all, he had one Legendary Armament that he had taken from Xu Zhiping.

[Legendary Helmet]+[Magic Core]

Min Do-jun pressed the button with a sense of tension.